Tuesday, April 14, 2015

I am so blessed to attend the press night of Warner Bros. and Fox
Philippines’ latest box office hit, “The Longest Ride,” and was pretty much
everything you’d love in a movie – superb, breathtaking, heartwarming,
inspiring – except that I found its title very ironic for it wasn’t a long ride
at all; in fact you won’t get enough of this gripping story of life and love,
it will leave you applauding with tears in your eyes, asking for more! Those
hours were just short yet sweet and mesmerising. The movie unraveled the
beautiful foundational layers of love, such as respect, humility and sacrifice.

PHOTO ABOVE PROPERTY OF WARNER BROTHERS

“The
Longest Ride” is adapted from the novel of the same title but Nicolas Sparks –
who never failed to make me cry since I met him (through his books) during my
college days – really produced a winner in this one. This movie is so
delectable with a zesty twist you never expected! It resonates the truth of how
love is a seed that grows love really starts with just the seed of pure, simple
intentions, and definitely, as it grows, it leads you to something beyond your
wildest imaginations.

The
characters were powerfully given life in the movie. The beauty and charm of
Sofia (played by Britt Robertson) simply grows on you. Shy yet spunky, she
unwittingly finds her prince without looking for him, only because she is destined
for him (and she shows how destiny is synonymous to sacrifice and
selflessness). And you can’t help but take a second, luke her bull-riding
prince, Luke (played by Scott Eastwood). With his Clint Eastwood-solid-faced
good looks, laced with gentlemanliness, you can’t help but gush every time they
share the screen!

Everything
about the movie was simply spellbinding, the generations of love in the film,
and the different forms that Love takes. Beyond the romantic love between Sofia
and Luke, they also meet Ira after they save his life but it turns out that it
was he who saved their love as he walked the young couple through consummate
love and solidarity. I loved how the story spoke of how simplicity – of simply
loving and sacrificing without demanding the same, of simply helping without
expecting praises or monetary rewards, of simply listening without expecting
any gratification in exchange, of simply letting go for the simple reason that
you love the person and you want her to be happy. Indeed, the story tells of
how Love and Life should never be complicated. That all it takes to find
lasting greatness is a pure, selfless heart. This
movie is the epitome of subtle perfection and as I do not yearn to spoil the
plot for you, to excite you let me quote a line from the movie that simply summarises
this beautiful tale: “A story like so many others, except Ruth
happened to have an eye for art while I had eyes only for her and somehow this
was enough for us to create a collection that became priceless to both of us.”